Silence Is Still Not Golden
by degrassichick
Summary: Charles left school in the fifth grade to go to a foster home because his dad hit him. But five years later he's back with his dad. And back with Stephanie. Will the two ever rekindle something they once lost? -New Chapter Finally Up!-
1. Welcome To San Francisco

**Silence Is _Still_ Not Golden**

Note: Okay if you guys haven't seen the episode of Full House called Silence is Not Golden, you might not understand this first part. But hopefully you will. This is my first Full House fan fiction. Hope you like it.

"Charles, could you come here for a second?" Charles Anderson's foster mom called up the stairs.

"Okay!" Charles called and jogged down the stairs.

He saw a familiar figure sitting on the couch with his parents.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Charles asked. His usually cheerful voice trembled as he spoke.

"Charles, I'm sorry about what happened back when you were in the fifth grade," his dad said.

"And...? What's going on?"

"Charles, your dad wants you back home, he's gotten the help he needs he's been in anger management for the past 5 years," his foster mother said.

"No. No! I'm not going back to San Francisco with him, its not going to happen!" Charles yelled.

"Charles, he wants you back home, he is your father!" his foster dad said.

"You're more my dad then he is!"

"Charles, I'm sorry, he already got the judges permission," his mom said.

"What about my permission!?" Charles exclaimed.

"Charles, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," his dad said.

"Charles, could you please just pack up your things, your dad will be taking you home tomorrow morning," his mom said.

Charles groaned and ran back upstairs to his room.

Charles' foster mother walked over to Charles' dad, "If you so much as lay a hand on him, he will be out of your house and your life forever,"

"I'm home!" High school sophomore Stephanie Tanner said walking into her house, dropping her messenger bag on the floor.

"In here, Steph!" her Uncle Jesse called from the kitchen.

She walked into the kitchen.

Joey Gladstone was sitting on a chair at the kitchen table with his tattered, Mr. Woodchuck.

"Joey, it's a sponge with eyes, let it go," Jesse said.

"Do you guys need help with anything?" Stephanie asked.

"You're not usually one to help out around here, ever since high school started, at least," Uncle Jesse said.

Stephanie laughed and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I know sorry, I've just been busy with homework and Andrew and Gia, you know,"

Jesse nodded, "You can set the table,"

"It's only 4 o' clock," Stephanie said, looking up at the clock hanging above the refrigerator.

"Yeah, but DJ's coming home today, remember?" Jesse asked, referring to Stephanie's older sister DJ, who was a junior at Yale University.

"Oh yeah, dad's picking her up at the airport right now isn't he?"

"Yeah, but DJ brought back 2 other creatures,"

"Lemme guess, Steve and Kimmy," Stephanie said referring to DJ's boyfriend Steve and best friend Kimmy Gibbler.

Joey sighed, "The Tanner house is never sane,"

Stephanie laughed, "Well, I'm going to go upstairs, see ya,"

"What about the table?" Jesse called after her, but Stephanie was already gone.

"Hey Steph," Stephanie's thirteen year old sister, Michelle said, she lying on her stomach on Stephanie's bed thumbing through the latest issue of _Teen People_.

"Hey, what are you doing in my room?" Stephanie asked.

"Good to see you too," Michelle replied.

After DJ moved out, Stephanie got her own bedroom and Michelle got DJ's old room. But sometimes Michelle would go to Stephanie's room to use her computer, since Michelle's had just been ordered and was going to be delivered sometime in the next two weeks.

"Isn't that mine?" Stephanie asked, staring at the magazine.

"Yeah, it came in the mail today, but I need it for something," Michelle said, never taking her eyes off the magazine.

"What would that be?"

"This," Michelle said ripping a page out of the magazine and walking over to her computer desk.

"Michelle! What did you just rip out?" Stephanie asked.

In the last five years Michelle had changed, she was still cute but she changed her style. Her ears were pierced twice, and she loved rock and roll, alternative, ska, and punk music. She wore concert tee-shirts of old eighties bands or newer bands.

Today she had on a white tank top that had the words Miss Understood on them in black lettering and a pair of black cargo pants, her strawberry blonde hair with the ends died red was pulled into a ponytail and she had black and red rubber bracelets up her arms.

Stephanie hated those bracelets but it just made Michelle wear them more.

Stephanie walked over to the computer. Michelle placed the picture on the scanner and scanned the picture into the computer. It was a picture of Blink 182.

"Okay, so you ruined a perfectly page in my magazine, for a picture of Blink 182? You can get them all over the internet!"

"This ones different, see?" Michelle showed her the picture.

It was of the band whenever they did a concert at the Staples Center in LA.

"Oh. Because it was in California?" Stephanie asked.

"No, they're _from_ California." Michelle said.

"Then why?"

"Because I'm in the picture, see?"

Stephanie glanced at the picture, indeed Michelle was in the picture along with her best friends Denise, Lisa, Teddy, Derek, and Aaron.

"Michelle! You're in the eighth grade, how did you get in that concert?" Stephanie asked.

"Aaron's older brother's best friends dad is the manager of the Staples Center, he let us in, and we got back stage passes, see?" Michelle asked reaching in her drawer of her computer desk and pulling out a backstage pass that had autographs of Tom, Mark, and Travis on it.

"You better hope dad never finds out, Blink 182 is on _Wake Up San Francisco_ tomorrow," Stephanie said.

"Hopefully dad won't tell them I'm a fan and then give them my name," Michelle said.

"Like they'll remember _your _name," Stephanie joked and walked over to her mirror to reapply her makeup and put in a new pair of earrings that her boyfriend, Andrew had given her.

Just then Stephanie's phone rang.

Stephanie leaped onto her bed and grabbed her phone.

"If it's for me, hand it over," Michelle said logging off her computer and climbing back on her bed and grabbing her red nail polish off of her nightstand.

"Why would it be, it's my phone line, you have your own," Stephanie said and then answered her phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey Steph," Stephanie's best friend Gia said into the phone.

"Hey Gia, what's up?"

"Nothing much, I'm at the mall right now with this guy who I just met, he is such a babe, you're going to flip out as soon as you see him, I swear, he just moved here from Fresno,"

"Okay, I'll be there in about ten minutes, see ya," Stephanie said and clicked off her phone.

Michelle had her headphones out and was belting out the words to I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness.

"How do your friends deal with you?" Stephanie asked sarcastically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Michelle asked.

"Well I mean, Lisa and Derek for example, I never took them as the punk rocker types," Stephanie said going to her closet to find an outfit to wear to the mall.

"Well, I didn't either, but Lisa loves alternative music and Derek loves rock and roll. Teddy and Denise usually don't mind rock, they like ska more and Aaron and me like all types," Michelle shrugged.

"You and Aaron are like soul mates, you guys have liked each other since like pre-school," Stephanie said grabbing an outfit to wear.

"Shut it," Michelle said throwing a pillow at her sister.

Stephanie changed out of her blue jeans into a light pink skirt from Aeropostale that rode just at her thighs and a white halter top that had a lowercase S written on the middle of it with light pink lettering.

She grabbed her white platform thong sandals from her shoe rack in her closet and then grabbed her purse and waved to Michelle and walked out the door and down the stairs.

"See you guys later, going to the mall with Gia, dad home yet?" Stephanie said coming into the kitchen.

"No he called a minute ago, he'll be home in twenty minutes, when are you coming home?" Joey asked.

"I dunno an hour or so, Gia has a new friend she wants me to meet, see ya," Stephanie said grabbing her car keys out of her purse and walking out the door.

She walked over to her red Volkswagen Beetle convertible and got inside.

Shifty's CD was playing as she drove to the mall.

"_One love, one shot, its all we ever got, girl you got me started now I'm not gonna stop, Slide Along Side yeah baby that's right, I'm gonna show you the time of your life," _Stephanie sang along.

"Hey, Steph!" Gia waved her over in the food court.

"Hey G," Stephanie greeted her with a smile.

"You made me sit here for an hour so I could meet _Barbie_?" a boy with tan skin, dark eyes, and dark brown hair said from where he was sitting next to Gia.

Stephanie glared at him, "Nice to meet you too,"

"Steph, this is Charles Anderson, he just moved here from Fresno," Gia said.

"Yeah, and aren't I psyched," Charles said sarcastically.

"San Francisco is awesome," Stephanie said.

"Not if you're in my shoes,"

"Okay then," Stephanie said taking a chair and sitting at the table.

"Well, I'm meeting going to check out the new CD's at FYE, see ya," Gia said getting up from her seat and walking towards the escalators.

Stephanie rolled her eyes just as two of the most popular girls in school walked into the mall, Jennifer and Jennifer.

"Hi Stephanie," the Jennifer with light brown hair said with a smile.

"Yeah, hey Stephanie," the other Jennifer said.

"Charles, meet Jennifer and Jennifer," Stephanie said.

"Or thing one and thing two?" he asked jokingly.

"Ugh, he's just like that one kid from fifth grade, _The Accident_," The brunette Jennifer said.

"Guys, we said we weren't going to talk about him anymore," Stephanie said shaking her head.

"Who?" Charles asked.

"This kid from our fifth grade class, he was like the class clown, or class ass," Blonde Jennifer said.

"Good one," the brunette Jennifer said giving the blonde a high five.

"Well we gotta go, I'm going to Sassy," Blonde Jennifer said.

"Me too," the brunette said.

"No way!" they both exclaimed.

As they were saying it, as they always did, Stephanie mouthed it out, batting her eye lashes jokingly.

"Bye Steph," the girls said and walked off.

"They remind me of girls from _my_ fifth grade class. They had the same name too, Jennifer and Jennifer," Charles started, "Then they hung around with this other girl, I had the biggest crush on her, but I always covered it up with hatred and mean jokes, she helped me with my dad though, not that it helps anymore,"

"Reminds me of a kid from my fifth grade class too, I had a crush on him, and I thought he liked me too, so I called him and he said if I ever called him again he would call the cops for sexual harassment, but later on in the year, I found out his dad hit him, and my Uncle Jesse called Children's Aid and had him taken away from his dad and put into a foster home, I never saw him again, but I still really liked him, but I'd always just joke with him and tease him," Stephanie said.

"That's what happened with my crush too," Charles said.

"You don't think...nah, never mind, I gotta go, nice meeting you," Stephanie said getting up from her seat and slinging her purse on her shoulder.

"I'll be starting your school tomorrow," Charles said.

"You a sophomore?" Stephanie asked.

Charles nodded, "You?"

Stephanie nodded, "You got a ride home?" she asked.

Charles shook his head.

"Would you like one?"

Charles nodded and followed her out the main doors of the mall and into the parking lot.

"Nice ride, girly, but nice," he said getting in the passenger side.

"Yeah, I got it like a month ago. My friends and my boyfriend love it,"

"You're boyfriends lucky," Charles said and then realized what he said, "To you know, have a girlfriend with a cool ride, my girlfriends all dig my ride,"

"What type of ride is it?"

"Ferrari,"

"Seriously?" Stephanie asked.

Charles laughed, "No, I drive a Jeep, it was a gift from my foster parents that I got for my birthday before I came back here to live with my dad,"

Stephanie pulled out of the malls parking lot and glanced at Charles, "You were in a foster home?"

Charles nodded, "Yeah, like your old friend, my dad hit me, the girl I liked helped me out with him and one of her family members got me into a foster home. I remember wanting to hate her so much for that, but I couldn't I liked her too much,"

"I'm sorry, about your dad, I mean, so now you live with him again, that's just stupid,"

"Yeah, it's been five years but I'll never forgive him for it, never,"

"So where do you live exactly?"

"Down this street, and then take a left, and then a right, and it's the third house on the left side," Charles said.

Seven minutes later, Stephanie pulled into his driveway.

It was a two story house and it looked newer but it was just redone, it was nice, and big.

"Did your dad start a family after you?"

"After he got out of some therapy, yeah, now he has two kids, a three year old girl and a newborn baby, and a wife. He loves them more than he ever loved me, or my mom," Charles said.

"Where is your mom?" Stephanie asked.

"My mom died when I was five,"

"My mom died when I was four," Stephanie replied.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Its fine, I live with my younger sister, my dad, my step-mom Vicky, his best friend Joey, my uncle Jesse, his wife, and their nine year old twins, Nicky and Alex, then I have an older sister but she's in college," Stephanie said.

"Big family, big probably happy family, right?" Charles asked, taking off his seat belt.

Stephanie nodded.

"That's good, you're lucky, see you tomorrow, thanks for the ride, Steph," Charles said getting out of the car.

"Do you need a ride to school tomorrow?"

"Nah, I'll drive myself,"

"Well incase you change your mind, here's my home phone, cell phone number, and email address," she said grabbing pad of paper out of her purse and jotting down numbers and email addresses, she slid it into his palm.

"Thanks. See you," Charles said and jogged into his house.

Stephanie's heart fluttered for some reason, "Yeah, see you,"

She shook her head with a smile on her face and pulled out of the driveway.


	2. Reminescing and Remembering

**Michelle (Mrs. Stamos): Thanks for the review. I hadn't thought about the whole name thing, but you're right, they would figure it out since the stories are so similar.**

**_Heres Chapter 2 please R&R_**

**Silence Is Still Not Golden-Chapter 2**

"Hey I'm home!" Stephanie said walking into the house.

"And you're early," Danny said walking in the living room from where he was in the kitchen.

"Deej!" Stephanie exclaimed when she saw DJ in the kitchen.

"Hey Steph," she said pulling her little sister into a hug.

"You've definitely grown since I saw you on Christmas," DJ said, looking Stephanie up and down.

"Hey Stephanie," Steve said from one of the stools by the counter, eating a bag of Doritos and drinking a Pepsi.

"Hey Steve," Stephanie said with a smile.

"Steph, we're about to eat so could you please, get out the silverware?" Vicky asked, pulling out 2 large trays of French Fries from the oven

"Sure mom," Stephanie said going to the silverware.

Ever since her dad and Vicky got married when Stephanie was 14 she had always called Vicky mom. And Vicky didn't mind, Michelle called her mom too, DJ called her Vicky though because she really missed Pam. And Stephanie and Michelle never knew her that well.

"Where did we get those trays from, they're huge, and why do we need 2?" Michelle asked, walking into the kitchen, "DJ!" she squealed pulling her sister into a hug.

"Did you just get here?" Stephanie asked DJ.

"Yeah like 2 minutes before you did we were late by twenty minutes," DJ said.

Michelle glanced over and saw Steve wave to her, "Hey Michelle," he said with a mouth full of Doritos.

"Those are mine," she said taking the bag from his hand, "And about the question about the French Fries, I got my answer," she joked.

Steve playfully nudged her.

"What's up squirt?" Kimmy asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Oh great, Kimmy's here," Michelle said sarcastically.

"What's up Michelle, Stephanie?"

Stephanie shrugged, "Nothing much, met a guy today, gave him a ride home and my number," she said making it sound much worse than it was purposely.

"Who is he? How old? What's his name? Did he leave any marks?" Danny asked.

"Dad, chill, his names Charles, he's seventeen, just moved here from Fresno, and unless he left a spot on my car, no marks, and no, no parts of our bodies touched," Stephanie said.

Danny mouthed _Thank God_.

Stephanie laughed and shook her head as she put the last knife on the table.

Stephanie was in her room doing homework when someone knocked on her door.

"Come in!" she said.

"Hey Steph," DJ said, glancing around the room which looked much different then it had when she had left it five years ago, "Wow the room looks different,"

Stephanie had a queen size bed in the middle of the room, her walls were covered with posters of bands like Simple Plan, Goo Goo Dolls, and Matchbox 20, she had movie posters of her favorite movies, The Perfect Score and The Notebook, and then posters of her favorite singers Ashlee Simpson, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, and Shifty. Her bedspread was pink and her walls were painted white with pink border. She had a computer, television, homework desk, computer desk, dresser, nightstand, and built in shelves on the walls that had books and pictures of her friends.

"Yeah, have you seen Michelle's room?" Stephanie asked.

DJ laughed and nodded, "Yeah, she is a lot different than she was when she was 9," DJ said.

"Yeah, dad ordered her a computer for her fourteenth birthday which is in 2 weeks so it'll be in by then and dad's going to hook it up in her bedroom before she gets home from school, but for now, she still uses mine," Stephanie said.

DJ nodded and took a seat next to Stephanie on her bed.

"So what was this about that Charles guy?" DJ asked.

"He just moved here from Fresno, he has lived with a foster family since he was in the fifth grade since his dad hit him, but now he lives with his dad again, which I think is dumb," Stephanie said.

"It is dumb, his father should be in jail for that, but that sounds like that kid you hated but secretly liked back in the fifth grade, his name was like Charlie or something wasn't it?" DJ asked.

Stephanie thought about it for a minute, it had been five years, "I forgot, I'll get the yearbook," Stephanie said reaching under her bed and pulling out a shoe box full of year books from past years.

She grabbed the one from her fifth grade year and turned to her class.

She tried to think of his name as she scrolled through the names: _Jennifer Adams, Charles Anderson, Michael Brown, Elizabeth Bower, Jordan Davis, Angel Fisher, Harry Hung, Tommy Johnson, Jennifer Lawrence, Lily Mitchell, Lacey Nichols, Brian Onyx, Traci Patterson, Manuela Rodriguez, Robbie Smith, Stephanie Tanner, Anthony Thomas, Hilary Venice, Aaron Williams, Ashlee York, Raymond Zimmerman. _

The names didn't boost Stephanie's memory so she glanced at the faces, as soon as she got past Jennifer's perky blonde hair, her eyes stopped looking, he was right next to her. _Charles Anderson_, she read the name. She glanced back at the picture, it was him for sure, the brown hair, goofy smile, and the puppy dog brown eyes. He had a scratch under his eye and a spot on his neck which she remembered him saying that it was from a softball accident, but the Charles she met today had that same spot on his neck, and it still didn't look like a softball accident. It looked like a cigarette burn. The Charles she met today was the same Charles she knew five years ago. The same Charles who had liked her, the same Charles she had liked.

"Oh my God," Stephanie whispered.

"What?" DJ asked, Stephanie didn't hear her, "Steph, what is it?" DJ asked.

"This is him," Stephanie said pointing to the picture.

"Oh, his names Charles, just like that guy you met...today, is it-"

"Charles? Yeah, the Charles I met today is the Charles in that picture," Stephanie interrupted.

A few hours after DJ left Stephanie was still awake, it was 11:45 and her dad always said she needed to be asleep by 11:40. Stephanie had never listened, she always stayed up until at least 12:30, and tonight she definitely wasn't going to be going to sleep anytime soon.

She would always try to think of something different but her mind always went back to Charles, she had wondered what he had been up to and if he ever thought about her since she was in the sixth grade, she always wondered about that. She had even thought about it this morning during breakfast, and then she saw him that afternoon.

_He probably doesn't know who I am yet, I know he knows who I am in general but not right now he doesn't know I'm the girl he liked, and the girl that messed up his life, unless he looked through a yearbook like I did._

Monday morning rolled around and her alarm went off at 7:00 AM, school started at 8:00 so she had an hour.

She got into the shower and got out twenty minutes later, she blew dry her air and brushed it out pulling it into a messy bun. She brushed her teeth and put on her deodorant and lotion and then walked into her bedroom to pick out her clothes for the day.

She picked out a faded navy blue baby tee that said: _"I went from candy and toys, to cell phones and boys!" _on it in light pink lettering,she picked out a pair of Tommy Hilfiger flared blue jeans and her white K-Swiss shoes with sky blue stripes on them. She sprayed on a hint of perfume and then grabbed her white messenger backpack and said goodbye to her family and then went out the front door and into her car.

"_And every time you try to tell me, you say the words that I'm the only, but I'm the one who's crawling on the ground, when you say love makes the world go round,"_ Stephanie sang out the songs to one of her favorite songs, _Love Makes The World Go Round_ by Ashlee Simpson.

Just then her cell phone rang. She turned down her stereo and reached for her phone, "Hello?"

"Stephanie? It's Charles,"

Stephanie's heart leaped at the sound of his voice.

"Hi Charles," she said coolly.

"Hi, you said you could give me a ride to school, my car doesn't get here until tomorrow, so could you-"

"Sure, be there in a minute," Stephanie cut him off and clicked off her cell phone.

Then she realized she had been driving to his house to begin with.

"Damn, when you say be there in a minute, you're really literal." Charles said getting into the passenger seat.

Stephanie shrugged, "I do what I can,"

Charles stared at his homeroom class.

He was standing at the front since the teacher had to "introduce" him.

She had been calling attendance when he walked into the room with Stephanie.

"Stephanie Tanner, actually on time for once," she greeted them.

Stephanie blushed, the class snickered.

"Take your seat," she had told her.

Stephanie took her seat behind Gia and next to a boy who he guessed was her boyfriend since she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Then her name stayed in his head while the teacher finished calling attendance.

_Stephanie Tanner, that name sounds so familiar._

"Class, this is Charles Anderson he just moved here from Fresno, Charles take the seat in front of Gia," she said pointing to the only available seat.

Gia was sitting next to a girl with long dark brown hair wearing a navy blue hooded sweatshirt that said _Roxy Girl_ on it.

"Hey Charles, you already know me and Steph but this is Mickey and the guy behind her is Stephanie's boyfriend Andrew.

Charles felt like he had gotten slapped in the face when Gia said the last part, he didn't know why.

The three got introduced and class begun.

"So Charles, what happened to your neck?" Mickey asked at lunch.

He was sitting at a table with Mickey, Gia, Stephanie, and Andrew.

"I was playing baseball with my little brother last week and the ball hit me in the neck," He said.

_Liar._

He guessed Stephanie was thinking the same thing since she shook her head to herself and glanced out the window they were sitting next to.

"Ouch," Andrew said, cringing at the scar the "baseball" had left.

It wasn't a baseball accident it was a cigarette burn, it was back at the beginning of the fifth grade, his dad was mad and he held on to Charles' head and just stung him with it.

Charles remembered screaming at his dad afterward and then regretting it, he got it bad that night from doing that.

The next day he had to tell everyone he got so dizzy from getting hit in the neck with a baseball that he walked into a door.

_A door named dad._ He thought.

He remembered when he went over to his crushes house, they had to work on a project together.

**Flashback**

"Does your dad hit you?" Stephanie Tanner asked him.

"No, just forget it," Charles lied.

"Does he hit you hard?"

"It's my own fault for ticking him off."

"So that day when you walked into school with that spot on your neck it was a-"

"Cigarette burn,"

"And the black eye, you said you walked into a door,"

"Yeah, a door named dad,"

"Have you told anyone?"

"No. And you can't either. You have to swear on your mother's life!"

"My mother isn't alive."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Charles started, "My mother isn't alive either,"

Stephanie nodded.

"What time is it?" Charles asked.

Stephanie checked her watch, "5:30, why?"

"Oh man, I'm late. My dad's going to kill me!"

"Charles-"

"Look, Stephanie, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone this," he said.

"I promise,"

He had ran out the door and home as fast as he could, it wasn't fast enough though.

His dad had pushed him against a door and hit him and pushed him down the stairs.

That day was the last time he had ever seen Stephanie Tanner.

A week later Children's Aid showed up at the door and took Charles away from his dad telling him he wasn't safe.

He knew then that Stephanie had told.

He couldn't believe it. He wanted to scream at her and yell at her and tell her he hated her. But he couldn't even try to imagine it. He had liked Stephanie since the first day of the fifth grade when she had walked into the classroom.

He had eyed her, she was wearing a red tee shirt, her hair was in a high ponytail, and she had on a pair of cutoff blue jean shorts and red thong flip flops. Her skin had been tan from the summer sun and it made her strawberry blonde hair look even more blonde.

His heart would always flutter when he was around her but he would always just joke with her.

He had always wanted to kiss her, but he never had the guts to do it, besides, he was only 11. Stephanie was only 10.

But the last day he had seen her was the week after her eleventh birthday. He had made a joke about her on that day.

It didn't bother her though. It never bothered her, that's why it was always easy to pick on her.

She was popular and pretty she had friends. Charles on the other hand, was never very popular and his father had always called him an "ugly piece of shit" and he always believed him.

Stephanie never got called that, her dad was nice to her.

Charles always got called that, his dad was mean to him.

Whenever she got in trouble, she got a lecture.

Whenever he got in trouble, he got a bruise.

She was a girl.

He was a boy.

They were like yin and yang.

After he got taken away he moved in with a foster family, the Brown's.

They had a girl who was 10, a son that was seven, and another daughter that was five when he moved in. Now Emily was fifteen, Maggie was ten, and Justin was twelve.

They always treated him like their own son.

They had the picture perfect family, like Stephanie's family.

Emily was now the captain of the cheerleading squad, Maggie was in ballet and was great at it and Justin was the star of his little league team.

After Charles moved in with him, Emily helped him make friends in their age group, they were nice to him, but it was forced, Charles could tell.

The Brown's were rich, they had money.

They lived in Fresno, which was not as big as San Francisco but it was nice.

Charles had joined the drama club and the soccer team, he wasn't very good at either, nobody said it to his face but he knew it was the truth.

He remembered the conversation he had with Emily an hour before he left yesterday:

"So you're going back to your dad?" Emily had asked, combing her honey brown hair into a ponytail.

"Yep, back to hell,"

Emily had a weak smile, Charles always joked, but he was serious this time.

"I'm gonna miss you," she said quietly.

"I'll miss you too, sis," he said pulling her into a hug.

"See you, bro," The two always kidded around like that.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and brought the last two boxes downstairs and then ran up to grab his two duffle bags.

A tear trickled down Emily's cheek. She got up and left the room.

All that was left in the room was an empty bed.

In the car ride there, Charles had thought about Stephanie, if he was going to see her and what she was like.

**End Flashback**

"Charles, hello?" Gia waved a hand in front of his face just as the lunch bell rang and everybody left the cafeteria.

Stephanie waited for him and they walked out of the cafeteria.

"God, I hate school," Charles muttered under his breath.

"It's your first day, relax," Stephanie said.

"Do you wanna ditch?" Charles asked.

Stephanie let out a laugh, "What?"

Stephanie looked for a sign of a joke in his face. There wasn't one.

"You're serious?"

Charles nodded.

"I've never exactly ditched school before,"

"It's easy,"

"Well, I'm sure it is, but what about your dad, won't he get mad if he finds out you ditched?"

Charles and Stephanie stopped walking and he pulled her against a wall.

"He won't find out," Charles said.

"How can't he?"

"Easy, do you have your cell phone?"

Stephanie nodded and grabbed it out of her purse and handed it to Charles.

"Okay, c'mon," he said leading her back into the empty cafeteria.

"The school is monitored by a video camera,"

Charles laughed and led her into the janitor's closet in the cafeteria.

"How are you going to find the school's phone number?" Stephanie asked.

"Its right here," he said pointing to a flyer hanging on a wall, it was the Custodial Services Code of Conduct.

Stephanie laughed, _Janitor's Code of Conduct_.

Charles punched in the school's number.

"What's your dad's name?" he asked.

"You're going to be my dad?"

"What's his name?"

"Danny Tanner," Stephanie said.

"Hello, this is Danny Tanner, Stephanie Tanner's father...yes the host of _Wake up San Francisco_," he rolled his eyes, Stephanie laughed, "My daughter has a doctor appointment today in fifteen minutes, I tried to schedule it for after school but they were booked, I will be there to pick her up in a few minutes...no thank you...uh huh...bye," he said and shut the flip phone.

"No way!" Stephanie laughed.

"Yep," he said proudly.

"How are you going to get out?"

"I need your car keys," he said.

"What? Are you insane? I'm not handing you my car keys,"

"You gotta, or else your "dad" will have ditched you,"

Stephanie laughed and handed him the keys.

The two got out of the closet.

He went out the cafeteria doors that led to the outside and Stephanie snuck out of the cafeteria.

A few minutes later the intercom system came on _"Stephanie Tanner, please report to the main office, your father is here to pick you up," _

Stephanie laughed.

She grabbed her messenger bag out of her locker and her math and history book and then walked to the main office.

"Your dad is sitting in the car right there," the secretary said.

"He didn't come in?"

"No, but you can't miss Danny Tanner, he is such a looker," she said.

"Gee thanks," Stephanie said and walked outside.

Charles had on a pair of sunglasses so that the secretary wouldn't see his face.

"This is so Ferris Buelers Day Off," Stephanie said.

Charles laughed and they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Just so you know, the secretary thinks you're a looker," Stephanie said.

Charles laughed, "Can you blame her?"


	3. Ditches and Daydreams

Silence Is Still Not Golden-Chapter 3

"So, do you ditch a lot?" Stephanie asked.

Charles let out a laugh, "You're scared you're going to get caught aren't you?"

"No," Stephanie lied. She was petrified.

Charles smirked.

"A little,"

Charles' smirk turned into a smug grin.

"Okay, a lot!" She finally admitted.

Charles let out a laugh.

She playfully kicked him in the back of his calve with her foot.

"Ow," he winced trying to say it quietly. But Stephanie heard him.

"Pull into this parking lot," Stephanie said pointing to an empty parking lot that belonged to a mill.

"What?" he asked.

"Just do it," she urged.

Charles nodded and pulled in parking his car.

"Roll up your pant legs," she said.

"Steph, we just met and-"

"Charles!"

Charles rolled his eyes and pulled off his jacket.

Stephanie saw a cigarette burn.

"Your dad hit you again," she said quietly.

"It was a long time ago, back in the fifth grade, it just hurts-bad,"

"Why?"

"Like I would know, everything I do pisses him off,"

"What he did to you back then was wrong,"

"Stephanie it was like 5 years ago,"

"Charles! He burned you with a cigarette, twice,"

"No he didn't it was only once," Charles lied.

"Charles you know that isn't true! That spot on your neck from your "softball" incident...that has been there since the fifth grade, you used the same excuse," Stephanie said.

"What?" Charles asked, "How would you know what went on when I was in the fifth grade?"

"Because I was there," she said quietly.

Charles stared at her with wide eyes and then placed his head in his hands, "Oh my God," his voice was muffled, but the words still came out clearly.

"Charles, I'm Stephanie-"

"Tanner. You're Stephanie Judith Tanner. I know who you are, I know who you were. You ratted on me," Charles said.

"Charles, I had to!" Stephanie said.

Charles grabbed her arm firmly, "How could you do that to me Steph? How could you?!" he said, tears filling his eyes.

"Charles," she said his name softly and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a hug.

Charles patted her on the back and hugged her soft skin.

This was the girl he had loved since he was eleven, and now she was in his arms, and they didn't hate each other.

Charles didn't know it but Stephanie was thinking the same thing about him.

_Kiss her you dork, Charles urged himself. He couldn't. Not now at least._

_Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him, Stephanie's conscious screamed at her._

_Kiss her._

_Kiss him._

"_God, shut up already!" Charles exclaimed._

"_What?" Stephanie asked._

"_Sorry, it's not you. My conscious is bugging me,"_

"_If its telling you the same thing mine is telling me, I see why,"_

_Charles' heart leaped, "What would that be?"_

"_You first," _

"_It kept on telling me to kiss you,"_

"_You really have changed over the past years,"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_You're not as funny,"_

_Charles smirked, "I don't know if I should take that as a complement or a complaint,"_

_Stephanie smiled despite herself and kissed him lightly on the lips._

"_Okay, I think my conscious stopped now," Stephanie said with a sigh and leaned against the head rest._

_Charles racked his brain for a witty comeback until he found one._

"_Mine didn't," he said and brought his lips to hers. _

_Stephanie's mind stopped working and her heart was doing all the thinking._

_She fiddled with her hands until her seat belt was unbuckled and she climbed over to Charles, practically sitting on his lap._

_The kiss began growing deeper with more certainty. _

_Charles ran his hands around Stephanie's hair. _

_She reached down and unbuckled his seat belt as well so that they would be able to move around._

_Stephanie felt Charles' tongue pressing against her lips._

_She opened up her mouth and gently slid her tongue into his already open mouth._

_The kissing grew hotter and heavier with each second. He never touched any other part of her body than her lips with his own._

_Their tongues began massaging each other faster and more rapidly as the kiss grew insanely passionate. _

_Charles hands fell from her hair and went around her neck, pulling her closer to him._

_They drew closer until their bodies were completely touching each other._

_Just then Stephanie's mind kicked back into action._

_**Andrew. Andrew. Andrew. ANDREW.**_

_Stephanie wasn't getting the message, she was just continuing to kiss Charles._

_**STEPHANIE! STEPHANIE!** Her mind screamed._

Just then Stephanie realized it wasn't her mind, it was Charles.

The two were sitting in his car in the empty parking lot.

"Stephanie!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she asked.

"You zoned out for like ten minutes,"

_Oh my God, it was a daydream. Oh God no, please don't say that, PLEASE! _

"What were we talking about?" Stephanie asked.

"You just got done telling me who you were."

"So we didn't kiss?" Stephanie blurted.

"Huh?" Charles asked.

"Nothing,"

"So you were dreaming about kissing me huh?" he asked jokingly.

Stephanie laughed, "You don't wanna know what I was dreaming about,"

Charles pulled the car out of the parking lot. They drove in silence for five minutes.

Stephanie glanced over at his arm, at the cigarette burn.

"How could anyone do that?" she asked, breaking the quietness.

"Do what?" Charles asked.

"Hurt their child, with a cigarette no less?"

"I don't know, ask my dad,"

Stephanie shook her head slightly and leaned against her headrest and stared out the window.

"What's with this chick music?" Charles asked, trying to break the tension.

"It's Ashlee Simpson, and she's awesome,"

"And out of this CD player," Charles said pressing the eject button and the CD popped out of the player.

Then he reached into the pockets of his cargo pants and brought out Good Charlotte's CD.

"Okay, first of all, that's not going in my CD player, my little sister listens to them, and second, you carry CD's in your pants pockets?" Stephanie questioned.

"Too bad about the first part, when I'm the driver, I'm also the DJ, so I always have to be armed incase a girl, such as you, decides to play chick music about a guy loving her for herself, so hence that is why I carry CD's with me."

Stephanie rolled her eyes.

Charles put the CD in the player and skipped past almost all the songs to the second to last one, it was called _Emotionless_.

_Hey Dad, I'm writing to you,_

_Not to tell you, that I still hate you,_

_Just to ask you, how you feel,_

_And how we fell apart,_

_How this fell apart._

_Are you happy out there, in this great wide world?_

_Do you think about your sons?_

_Do you miss your little girl?_

_When you lay your head down,_

_Do you sleep at night?_

_Do you even wonder if we're alright?_

_We're alright._

_We're alright._

_It's been a long, hard road with out by my side._

_Why weren't you there on the nights that we cried?_

_You broke my mother's heart,_

_You broke your children for life._

_It's not okay, but we're alright,_

_I remember the days you were a hero in my eyes,_

_But those are just a long lost memory of mine._

_I spent so many years trying to survive,_

_And now I'm writing you to let you know,_

_I'm still alive._

Stephanie's mouth dropped open and she flipped to the second song on the CD, she didn't know what it was, but it had to be better than that.

It was the song _The Anthem_, Michelle had the CD and she played that song all the time, but she never heard her playing the song that Charles was just playing.

"What the hell was with that song?" she asked, surprised at her word choice.

"What?"

"It's a song about telling your dad you don't need them, and that you're okay without him in your life," Stephanie said.

"And?" Charles asked.

"Never mind, I guess that would be the type of song someone like you would listen to," she said and then regretted it the millisecond it left her mouth.

"Someone like me?" Charles repeated.

"I didn't mean it like that, I mean, someone who has had a crappy life like you," Stephanie said and then cringed at what she said, "I mean you know like-"

"Steph, I knew what you meant," Charles said.

"I'm sorry, Charles," Stephanie said.

"Don't be, it's not your fault what my dad did to me,"

"And still does," Stephanie finished.

"I hate my dad. I hate him so goddamn much!" He exclaimed slamming his fist down, it hit the steering wheel and the loud horn honked, and everybody heard it.

They all started honking back and yelling.

Charles shook his head and pulled into another parking lot.

"You okay?" Stephanie asked.

"No offense, but do I look okay?"

Stephanie shook her head.

Stephanie glanced at the building they were parked in front of.

"Oh God," she said.

"What?"

"We're at the _Wake Up San Francisco_ studios, oh my god!"

"Isn't _Wake Up San Francisco_ done for today, it's like 1:00," Charles said looking at the digital clock on Stephanie's radio.

"It_ is_ done. The people coming out of the building right now are my dad and aunt Becky!" Stephanie exclaimed covering up her eyes with her hands.

"_Uh oh_," Charles said, "Do you think they'll see us if we pull out of the parking lot,"

"My dad'll recognize this car, _anywhere_,"

"I'm sure more than one person in_ all_ of San Francisco has a red VW Convertible,"

"Not like this one, my dad put on a specified plate on it, its right under my license plate, it lets him know that this is my car, it has an ID number on it, and my name," Stephanie said.

"No offense to your dad or anything, but does he suffer from paranoia or OCD?" Charles asked.

Stephanie let out a small laugh, "Sometimes I think so,"

Charles glanced back at Stephanie's dad and aunt, the 2 were turned around talking to somebody, and of course it wasn't just someone. It was Blink 182.

"Holy shit," Charles said.

"But anyways if my dad finds out this is my car, he'll _kill _me,"

"No he won't,"

"Yes he will,"

Charles got out of the car and returned a minute later with something in his right hand, he plopped it on Stephanie's lap.

It was her ID plate.

"No he won't,"

"Oh my God, Charles!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Now you're dad's turning around, I better hurry," Charles said and peeled out of the parking lot as fast as he could, most definitely burning rubber and the pavement they were driving on.

Stephanie let out a laugh and a sigh.

"So why weren't you more excited about your dad talking to Blink 182?"

"Ever since Tommy Page showed up at my birthday party and kissed DJ, I haven't shown my normal love for them, I still love them, just not as much,"

"I remember that birthday party,"

"Oh yeah, you were there,"

Charles nodded, "He sang you that song and kissed your hand and you thought he was your boyfriend, you were talking about it to Jennifer and Jennifer at school the next day,"

"Yeah, but that was my tenth birthday, so we were still in the fourth grade,"

Charles nodded.

_I didn't like you as much then, but then wait 'til you started fifth grade Steph, damn if you would have heard every word that had been running through my head when you weren't looking, we'd be married by now._

"Did we get along in the fourth grade?" Charles asked.

"Better than we did in the fifth, but personally I think, enough with the past, you're living in the present, so focus on the future,"

"Wise words," Charles said.

"Yeah, my older sister's boyfriend had it in his fortune cookie a year ago,"

Charles smirked.

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"Nothing, you just surprise me,"

Stephanie felt a blush began to creep across her cheeks but it ended as soon as her dad drove up right next to them.

"Oh my God," Stephanie whispered.

"What?" Charles asked, he followed Stephanie's gaze and saw Danny and Becky sitting in Danny's new Volvo Station-wagon right next to them at the red light.

"Has he seen us?" Stephanie whispered.

"What, do you want me to ask him?" Charles remarked sarcastically.

Stephanie rolled her eyes.

Charles pressed the hood cover button and the hood began to cover up the car.

_C'mon light, it seems you have been red for the past 10 minutes! _Stephanie said to herself.

"Uh oh, Danny's looking at us, duck," Charles said, practically pushing Stephanie's back down to get her to lean down.

"Isn't it a school day?" Danny asked Charles.

"Uh...uh..." Charles stammered, Stephanie reached out her hand and whacked him on the leg to get him to say something, "Yes, sir, it is but you see-"

Just then the light turned green, "Gotta go!" Charles said and sped off.

"Crazy kids," Danny muttered to Becky.

"Well that's all over now," Charles said, pulling into his driveway. It was 3:45. School had gotten out fifteen minutes before.

After the encounter with Danny, they had gone down to the mall to hang around and get something to eat.

"Can you put back on that ID thing?" Stephanie asked him, "My dad'll know it was us if he sees that it's not on there,"

"Sure, hand me the thing," Charles said.

Stephanie reached into her jeans pocket and slipped the ID into his hand.

Charles took the silver plate and screwed it back into place above her license plate.

"Thanks, for everything today, I had a blast, seriously," Stephanie said.

"Yeah, I had fun too, see you tomorrow," Charles said, lifting his hand into a wave and jogging into his house.

Stephanie slid over to the driver's seat and drove off.

"I'm home," Stephanie called out, dropping her messenger bag onto the floor and walking into the kitchen.

"Hey Steph," DJ said from where she was reading an article in a magazine at the kitchen table.

"Hey," Stephanie greeted her and ran upstairs to her room.

"Michelle, you have your own room you know," Stephanie said whenever she saw Michelle sprawled out on Stephanie's queen size bed flipping through the channels on Stephanie's television.

"My cable box is out," Michelle said.

"So, use the one in the living room,"

"Did you miss Steve and Joey flopped on the couch screaming and hooting watching a football game?" Michelle asked.

"Oh, that's why there were bags of chips and bowls of popcorn and a pizza box on the coffee table,"

Michelle nodded.

"Well, how about Uncle Jesse's apartment, or Joey's room?" Stephanie asked.

"Joey has his VCR on record right now, apparently there's a "Classic Cartoon Marathon" on Cartoon Network." Michelle said making quotation marks with her fingers to emphasize _Classic Cartoon Marathon_, "And Nick and Alex are upstairs watching Rocket Power," As soon as Nicky and Alex reached age 8, Nicky refused to be called Nicky he'd rather be called Nick and Alex hated being notified as Nick's twin. Whenever the 2 were at school, they were like day and night, Nick was getting popular because of his shaggy blonde hair that Becky hated, and Alex would get picked on because he was a born brain, even for a fourth grader.

"Why can't they just buy _The Greatest Cartoons Ever _DVD box set or something?" Stephanie asked.

"Why are you asking me these questions? You're sixteen almost seventeen, I'm thirteen, you're getting ready to start your junior year, I'm getting ready to start my freshmen year, do the math," Michelle said.

"Hostile," Stephanie said sarcastically.

"So any luck on that Charles dude?" Michelle asked, bored with the television, flipping it off and turning to her sister.

"Well the _"dude"_ knows who I am now," Stephanie said sitting next to Michelle on her bed.

"Okay, you already lost my attention, see ya," Michelle said getting up from Stephanie's bed and going back into her own room.

30 seconds later Stephanie heard Good Charlotte pounding from Michelle's stereo, and _Emotionless_ was the song she was playing.


	4. Close Encounters of the Kiss Kind

Chapter 4-

"I hate starting school in April," Charles grumbled the next day, slamming his locker door shut.

"Why?" he heard someone from behind him ask.

He turned around and saw Stephanie.

She was wearing a white tee shirt with black lettering that said: _"Roses are red, Violets are blue, but hey who cares? Crayons are too"_ and then she was wearing a pair of black jeans that had 5 silver stars on the bottom of the left leg and one big silver star on each of her back pockets. Her hair was spiral curled and she smelled like vanilla mixed with berries. She had on a silver necklace that had a silver heart on it bordered with pink rhinestones. He thought she looked gorgeous, of course, she always did to him.

"Because, then I wouldn't have a geometry test Monday that I didn't know half of the crap that you guys learned," Charles said as the 2 headed to study hall.

"Well, maybe he'll let you take the test after you've learned the stuff," Stephanie said.

"Steph, after this test we're going to a new unit in the text book,"

"Oh yeah, but you have all weekend to study. At least it'll be the last unit, one month left and we are official juniors, of course, I'll be going to school with Michelle again," Stephanie said.

"Michelle's your little sister, right?" Charles asked.

Stephanie nodded, "She's 13 and turning into more of a rebel day by day, and she practically _lives_ in my bedroom," Stephanie said, her hair swaying from side to side as they walked, "But anyways, about that test, I could help you study for it if you wanted,"

"Really?" Charles asked, hoping he didn't sound too excited.

"Yeah, just drive to my house after school, just follow my car," Stephanie said.

"Okay, great," Charles said.

Suddenly his day felt 10 times better.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Stephanie called out as she and Charles entered the house.

Nobody answered.

She walked into the kitchen. There was a note on the table;

_Stephanie and Michelle,_

_Your dad and I won't be back until late tonight, neither will Becky, apparently something is going on tonight and they have to do an evening edition of Wake Up San Francisco (then technically it would be, Good Night San Francisco...) But anyway, be back around 9 or 10, DJ is out with Steve, she left her cell phone number if you need anything, and you know my number and your fathers numbers by heart, I think. Jesse and the twins will be home around 6...love you._

_-Mom_

Stephanie crumpled up the paper and tossed it in the garbage can. She knew Michelle had already read it because there were 2 open cans of Pepsi on the kitchen table and 2 backpacks by the front door.

"Does your sister have a friend over?" Charles asked over her shoulder.

For a minute, Stephanie had forgotten about him even being there.

"Yeah, I think it's her friend Aaron's." Stephanie said, "My rooms upstairs,"

"I know, I've been here before," Charles said.

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Sorry, forgot," she said with a smile and jogged up the stairs, Charles following.

She heard music coming from Michelle's room, she glanced at her room, the door was shut and _Jet_ was playing in the background with the song _Are You Gonna Be My Girl_.

She opened up the door a bit and checked inside, her eyes grew wide.

Michelle was on her bed, making out with Aaron.

She shut the door as fast and as quiet as she could.

"What's wrong?" Charles asked as they walked into her bedroom.

Stephanie closed the door behind herself.

"My sister is officially having her first make out session," she said.

"Are you sure it was her first?" Charles asked.

"What are you saying?" Stephanie answered back with a question.

"Nothing, never mind," he said holding out his hands in a surrender form.

"Oh my God, what if she's made out with boys in my bed? Oh, that would be _so_ gross,"

"Haven't _you_ made out with boys in your bed?" Charles asked.

"Yeah, Andrew, but that's different he's my boyfriend, Michelle always gets offensive when I call Aaron her boyfriend. But she's always "hated" him since she was in preschool but it was actually just like you and..." Stephanie drifted off, not finishing the sentence.

Charles knew what she was going to say, "Like you and me,"

Stephanie nodded.

"Not that we would ever do that though," Charles said, cutting the tension.

"Right, r-right, we'd never, d-do that," Stephanie stammered.

For some reason she wanted her answer to be the complete opposite of what came out of her mouth.

They weren't new feelings of course. She had felt them since she was 11 years old.

"So uh, let's get to studying," Stephanie said sitting down on her bed. Charles took a seat at her computer desk and turned the chair to face her.

"So what would A divided by X times Y plus Z minus A equal if A was 5, X was 7, Y was 4 and Z was 10?" Stephanie asked they had been studying for at least 2 hours; it was now 5:45.

"I thought this was geometry test, not algebra," Charles said.

"It's the bonus question on the test," Stephanie said.

"Steph?"

"Yeah, Charles?"

"Would you ever, uh, wanna do the things we talked about earlier?"

Stephanie felt heat rising through her cheeks.

"Y-you mean, making out?"

Charles nodded.

"Uh, well, I would be cheating on Andrew," Stephanie said, thankful she actually remembered her boyfriend's name.

"I was hypothetically speaking anyway, I'd never wanna kiss you," Charles said.

Stephanie gaped at him.

"I mean with you having a boyfriend in all, it'd be causing trouble in paradise,"

"But what if I _didn't_ have a boyfriend?" She asked.

_What the hell was that? Am I on crack or something?_ She asked herself.

"Well, if you didn't have a boyfriend, I'd definitely consider it," he said.

"Really?"

"Well actually no," he started, staring at the floor.  
Stephanie's face fell.

Charles turned his face towards her. Their eyes locked with one another's, "I mean, I wouldn't have to,"

Stephanie and Charles found their faces growing closer to each other.

Their lips were a quarter of an inch apart.

"Stephanie! Michelle! I'm home!" Jesse called.

Stephanie and Charles almost fell over, the jumped apart so fast you would think the house was under attack by terrorists.

"Damn it," Stephanie heard Michelle curse from the other room.

"See you, Michelle," she heard Aaron say.

Michelle opened up the door to Stephanie's room where she and Charles were pretending to be concentrating hard on "studying".

"Give it up, Steph, you guys were getting ready to kiss," Michelle said.

"Why would you think that?" Stephanie asked.

"Your cheeks are totally flushed pink,"

Stephanie noticed something pinkish red on Michelle's neck.

"Uh, Michelle is that a...hickey?" Stephanie asked.

Charles looked up at Michelle as well.

They heard Jesse's footsteps clomping up the steps followed by Nick and Alex's.

Michelle ran to her room and grabbed her spiked choker necklace and ran back to Stephanie's room, she snapped it around her neck.

Charles and Stephanie pretended to be engrossed in their studies as Jesse opened up the door.

Michelle was sprawled out on the floor "reading a magazine" which was upside down, although she was too distracted to notice.

"Hey girls," Jesse said and spotted Charles, "and guys," he finished.

"Hey Uncle Jesse, I was just reading through a magazine, I'm just gonna go to my room now," Michelle said getting up from where she was on the floor and walking out of the room.

"Dinner in 30 minutes!" he called after her.

Charles turned around and saw Jesse.

His mind flew back to 2 days ago:

**Flashback**

_He and Stephanie were at the food court in the mall talking._

"_Reminds me of a kid from my fifth grade class too, I had a crush on him, and I thought he liked me too, so I called him and he said if I ever called him again he would call the cops for sexual harassment, but later on in the year, I found out his dad hit him, and my Uncle Jesse called Children's Aid and had him taken away from his dad and put into a foster home, I never saw him again, but I still really liked him, but I'd always just joke with him and tease him," Stephanie had said._

**End Flashback**

Charles knew who her Uncle Jesse was now. It was the guy standing at the doorway to her room.

He was _the_ Uncle Jesse who had taken him away from his home and his father.

Not that it was such a bad thing.

"Uncle Jesse, this is Charles, Charles, this is my Uncle Jesse," Stephanie said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Nice to meet you Charles, were you the Charles that Stephanie was talking about 2 days ago?" Jesse asked.

Charles nodded, "I think so,"

Stephanie nodded as well.

"Well Steph, I gotta go, see you Monday. I'll call you later," Charles said gathering up his things in his back pack and slinging it over his shoulder.

He turned to Jesse, "Oh and, thanks,"

"For what?"

"Getting me away from my dad," Charles said and walked downstairs.

Jesse turned to Stephanie, "Charles? That Charles? That's the Charles? Who's dad-"

"Hits him, well used too," Stephanie finished.

"How? He was in a foster home," Jesse said.

"His dad had been in anger management and therapy, he raised a new family and he wanted Charles to be a part of it, he got the judges permission to do so," Stephanie said, "But I think it was dumb of him," she finished.

"It was, I gotta call him up, Charles has to go back to his old home," Jesse said picking up Stephanie's phone.

Stephanie's eyes widened in horror.

_No. He's not going back to Fresno. He's not leaving me again like that! What the hell is up with me today? I have to be on drugs. Andrew is my boyfriend, not Charles._

"Uncle Jesse, don't!" she said running over to him and hanging the phone up.

"Stephanie I have to,"

"Don't!" she nearly screamed.

"Stephanie, you have to agree he isn't safe where he is right-"

"I know! Then have him move in with us, he can't move again, it's just not fair!" Stephanie exclaimed, tears running down her cheeks.

"Stephanie, what has gotten into you?"

"You just can't take him away right now, Uncle Jesse, please!"

"Alright, but if his dad ever tries to hit him this time I'll be over his dad like-"

"I know,"

Jesse nodded and put his arm around Stephanie, giving her shoulder a tight squeeze and then walking back downstairs.

Stephanie flopped onto her bed and covered her head with a pillow.

_What is wrong with me?_

"Morning Steph," Michelle sang out into Stephanie's bedroom the next morning.

"It's a Saturday," Stephanie said groggily.

She glanced at her clock, 7:16 AM.

"Steph! My soccer finals are today!" Michelle whined.

Even if Michelle was punk, she was still a killer soccer player.

"What time does your game start?"

"8:15," Michelle beamed.

"That's an hour away!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Duh, so wake up!"

Stephanie groaned but got out of bed and tumbled her self into her bathroom.

"Go Michelle!" Danny exclaimed.

"C'mon Michelle, you can do it!" Jesse hollered.

"C'mon Michelle, let's win this thing!" Joey said running up and down the field, keeping up with his soccer team.

Stephanie pulled off her white Aeropostale hooded sweatshirt and tied it around the waist line of her faded flare blue jeans. Now she had on her orange tee shirt that had the _Reese's Peanut Butter Cup_ logo on it with her blue jeans and a pair of plain white Skechers tennis shoes.

Michelle kicked the ball and it landed right into the goal.

Derek and Aaron jumped up and down giving each other high fives while Lisa, Denise, and Teddy ran over from the side lines to congratulate their friends.

Danny, Jesse, Joey, Becky, Nick, Alex, DJ, Kimmy, and Steve all ran over to congratulate Michelle.

Stephanie pulled her hair up into a ponytail and clapped and whistled for her sister.

"Hey, Steph," she heard someone say from behind her.

Stephanie knew who she hoped it would be, Charles.

As soon as she turned around she saw Andrew.

"Hey," She said, giving him a smile.

Andrew kissed her cheek.

"So, I saw Michelle get the winning goal..."

"Yeah, it was great, we're really proud of her," Stephanie said.

"I'll bet. So listen, me and the gang were going to go out for pizza, you wanna come? Then afterward we could go back to my place and...well, you know the rest,"

Stephanie let out a small laugh.

She always would go over to Andrew's after they went out with their friends and they would make out either on the couch or on his bed.

Stephanie glanced back over at her family.

"Hey guys, I'm heading out!" Stephanie called to them, "Congrats Michelle you did awesome!" She said and followed Andrew off of the soccer field.

"Yo, Steph! You here?" Michelle called out.

She, Derek, Lisa, and Aaron walked into her empty house.

Danny and the rest of the gang had dropped them off before going off to do some errands downtown and DJ, Kimmy, and Steve wanted to stop by the mall for the rest of the afternoon.

"I believe there are no extra occupants in the house," Derek said.

Even if he had changed a little in the past 5 years, he would always be the same, dorky, rich, Derek Johansen. Only now he listened to rock music, toned down in the dress code, and his blonde hair was now tousled and hung just to his ears and his bangs always fell in his eyes.

"How precise," Aaron said jokingly.

Michelle laughed.

Lisa placed her hand on Derek's shoulder slightly, "I think it's cute," she said and then gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The two had been "friends with benefits" since the seventh grade. And their "benefits" were very, very, intense.

"Gag me." Michelle remarked.

"Now _that's_ cute," Aaron said, running a hand through his shaggy brown hair that hung just below his ears with honey brown highlights.

Lisa laughed. Her long ruby red hair with strawberry colored streaks swayed from side to side.

Just then the front door opened and Stephanie bounded inside.

Michelle peaked inside the living room where Stephanie was.

Her blonde hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail and she could see a love bite on a corner of her neck.

Michelle laughed and rolled her eyes, "She changes like the weather."

"Huh?" Aaron asked.

"Yesterday she was all over Charles, and today she's all over Andrew, so tomorrow she'll be all over Charles," Michelle said, pulling her strawberry blonde hair out of the ponytail it was in. The red dyed tips of her hair sprayed across her shoulders.

She kicked off her cleats and motioned for her friends to follow her upstairs so Stephanie wouldn't see them.

Stephanie ran up the stairs to her bedroom and tried to put cover up over her hickey.

She felt bad about making out with Andrew, even though he was her boyfriend, she felt like she wasn't being loyal to Charles.

"Crap, how come my foundation won't work?" She asked herself aloud.

She knew Michelle had makeup that would work, she had done it before, Stephanie had figured out. Charles was right. Yesterday wasn't her first encounter with Aaron.

She knocked lightly on Michelle's door and then stepped inside.

Her walls were almost painted the same as Stephanie's only instead of pink border it was hot red. She had a red bedspread with black and white streaks across it. She had a television close to her bed with a cable box and DVD/VCR. She had a built in cubby painted black that held her 5 disk CD player, next to it was three long shelves packed with CD's and two more with DVD's. She had posters all over her walls of bands like Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Blink 182, Green Day, American Hi-Fi, and Sum 41 and then movie posters of her favorite movies, The Perfect Score, School of Rock, Just Married, and Coyote Ugly. She had other built in shelves around her room that had pictures of her and her friends and a few of her, Stephanie, and DJ.

Clothes and shoes were scattered around her floor and her closet was open.

Michelle, Derek, and Aaron were sitting on her bed and Lisa was digging through her closet.

"What's up, Steph?" Michelle asked.

"I need a foundation, and none of mine work,"

"The love bite was that intense? Damn." Lisa said.

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "How did you...never mind,"

Michelle stood up on her bed and jumped off of it walking over to her dresser which was covered with make up.

Stephanie was surprised Danny never got onto Michelle about her room being a mess, when Stephanie was Michelle's age, she got into big trouble for her room being a mess, but since Danny had married Vicky, he had definitely cooled down a lot.

Michelle rummaged through her many foundations and cover ups and then found one that matched Stephanie's complexion.

"Now hold still," Michelle said and lifted her hand up to apply it to her neck.

"Michelle, I can do it myself, I'm sixteen," Stephanie said and took the foundation out of her sister's hand and applied it to her neck, glancing in the mirror to see if it worked.

It did.

"Where do you get this stuff?" Stephanie asked, surprised that hers didn't work.

"The mall, Hot Topic, Icing, you know, the usual suspects," Michelle said with a smirk.

"Well, thanks," Stephanie said, handing the foundation back to her sister.

"No problem," Michelle said with a smile.

Stephanie smiled gratefully at her sister and then waved to her friends and walked back into her room.

"So, who do you think she likes better? Charles or Andrew?" Derek asked.

"Charles. Why else would she want a hickey covered up?"

"Um, you're dad, maybe?" Lisa asked.

"No, dad has seen Steph's hickeys before. No, she did it so Charles wouldn't see. They almost kissed yesterday, but Jesse and the boys showed up."

Aaron scoffed, "Well I know the last part was true, but how would you know that the first part was? You and me were...never mind."

"Oh my God! Derek they were so making out!" Lisa shrieked.

"I noticed something very awkward between the two..."

Michelle's rosy cheeks turned fire engine red.

"She likes Charles, not Andrew. It's always been that way...always will," Michelle said to herself.


	5. Secrets Unfolded

**Silence Is _Still_ Not Golden**-**Chapter 5**

"_You stupid kid! You're late, why are you late?!!" Charles' dad screamed at him in fury._

"_Dad," Charles choked, "I'm sorry. I didn't know what time it was and I was at Stephanie's and-"_

"_I don't want no excuses boy! I'm surprised that blonde rich brat would even want you as her project partner!" _

"_Don't you ever say that crap about Stephanie again!" Charles exclaimed._

_That did it for his dad. He slammed him against the wall-hard._

"_I'm sorry!" Charles whimpered._

"_I don't care! Maybe you need 2 cigarette burns!" His dad yelled._

"_Dad!"_

_But it was too late._

_Charles' dad grabbed the cigarette that hand been in his mouth and stuck it in Charles' backside of his calve._

_Charles winced in pain._

"_You useless boy. I hate you!" his dad exclaimed and pushed him down the stairs._

_Charles screamed in anger and fury._

"_I hate you, dad! I HATE YOU!" _

_Charles' dad stalked over to him and kicked him in the chest, "What was that?!" _

"_Sorry," Charles choked up, trying to breathe, tears streaming down his cheeks._

_Charles' dad kicked him once more, "Worthless kid," he said and then walked to the phone to grab the phone book and give the school an excuse since Charles wouldn't be able to go to school the next day._

"_Hello, Mrs. Wexler. This is Joel Anderson, Charles' Anderson's father. He's in the fifth grade,"_

Well duh, dad, you've called them at least five times with excuses_, Charles thought to himself._

"_He fell down the stairs just a few minutes ago. He tripped on a sneaker that was at the top of the stairs. I tell him to put them away, but you know how kids are. Yes, I am terrible sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you...uh huh, bye," Charles' dad hung up the phone._

_Charles' dad walked over to him and spit in his face before going back to his recliner to watch TV._

Home Alone, Home Alone, Home Alone._ Charles thought over and over in his head._

_One week later..._

_Charles was able to walk again._

"_Can I see the remote?"_

_Charles' dad slapped his hand across Charles' face._

"_Why would you ask a stupid question like that? No way am I giving you the remote so you can watch Ren and Stimpy or whatever bull shows you watch."_

_Just then the front door knocked._

_Charles' dad grunted but got off the couch, double checked in the mirror to make sure he looked suitable and then opened up the front door._

_One minute later two police officer's and a woman were standing in front of Charles and pulling him off of the couch._

"_What are you doing?" He asked._

"_Taking you out of this dump." One of the cops said._

_They dragged him into a car and the woman got into the drivers seat._

"_We'll be back to get your things later,"_

"_Huh?" Charles asked with confusion._

"_You're not safe here, we got an anonymous phone call reporting you had been beaten before, we just saw your cigarette burn, that was all the proof we needed." The woman said._

"_Wait so you're from-"_

"_Children's Aid. You're going into foster care." She said._

Stephanie told. She told! I told her not to! God I hate her!_ Charles thought to himself._

No, I don't what am I saying? I love her.

"I love you Steph," Charles uttered.

"Charles, wake up. Charles!" his dad said, shaking him until he woke up.

"What?" Charles asked, sitting up.

"It's nearly noon, you need to wake up," his dad said.

"So I was dreaming?"

Charles' dad nodded, "I didn't think I could hear Stephanie's name repeated so many times in an hour, but it's possible, you proved it."

Charles blushed with embarrassment.

"Judy, the kids, and I are going out for lunch in Chinatown. Do you want to come?"

"Isn't that in LA?" Charles asked.

His dad nodded.

"Pass," Charles said and flopped back onto the bed.

"Well then go take a shower," Charles' dad said pulling him out of the bed.

"I said pass," Charles objected.

"I know you did, but take a shower. You need to wake up."

"Thanks for the sympathy dad," Charles said, "It means a lot, really," he said sarcastically.

Charles' dad chuckled, "You better believe it. We'll be back around 6, don't get into _too_ much trouble," he patted him on the back and walked back downstairs.

Charles groaned and grabbed some clothes and stumbled his way into the shower

Stephanie began applying pink nail polish to her last toe.

Just then her phone rang.

"Perfect timing," she said and hobbled to the phone trying not to mess up her toes.

"Hello?"

"Steph, its Charles,"

Stephanie's heart did three back-flips.

"H-hey Charles, this is Stephanie,"

"I know...I called you, remember? And it's your own phone line,"

Stephanie slapped her hand over her forehead, _Why am I always _such_ a loser?_

"Oh, right, so what did you call for?"

"Did you maybe wanna go see a movie or something?"

"Yes!" Stephanie exclaimed, hoping she didn't sound too excited.

"Okay awesome, well-"

Just then Stephanie's call waiting beeped in.

"Hold on, got another call." Stephanie pressed the FLASH button.

"Hello?"

"Hey Steph, I'm heading over to your house in about an hour," Andrew's voice said over the phone.

"Why?" Stephanie asked, her heart sinking lower and lower.

"We've got a date remember? We've been planning it for like a month, the big concert is tonight, and we've gotta go to LA and then we were going to do some things before the show, remember?"

_No, I didn't until you just told me!_ Stephanie said, her heart reaching an all time low.

"Uh, sure," Stephanie lied.

"Okay, be there in an hour. I can't believe we're going to see Sheryl Crow in concert. I can't believe I let you talk me into seeing Sheryl Crow, but still it'll be awesome, love you,"

"Y-yea, love you too, bye," Stephanie said and pressed the FLASH button again.

"Charles?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't go,"

"Lemme guess, Andrew?"

"I'm so sorry. We've had these tickets to see a Sheryl Crow concert in LA for a month, and I can't cancel, we're going with Gia and Mickey there and I-"

"Don't worry about it, it's cool, I'll see you Monday, Steph. Have fun at the concert," Charles said and hung up the phone.

"Thanks," Stephanie said softly to the dial tone.

"See ya Steph, have fun!" Michelle called from upstairs as Stephanie ran downstairs.

After she hung up with Charles she took a shower and changed her clothes.

Her air was now spiral curled and had glitter hair spray throughout it.

She had on a black baby tee that had a swirl of rhinestones on it with a denim sandblasted mini skirt. She had on a pair of black high heeled thong flip flops and some glitter all over her body. She was wearing a silver necklace that had an S on it and matching earrings. Then she had on a pink shoulder bag purse and vanilla body spray.

Just then Andrew's car horn honked.

"Okay, see you later!" Stephanie called and walked out the door.

Charles was sitting in his white Mustang convertible with the top down.

Gia and Mickey were sitting in the backseat and Charles had the front passenger seat open for Stephanie.

"Hey, Steph," Mickey said coolly.

From what Stephanie could see she had on a mint green baby tee belly shirt with Happy Bunny on it that said "Its cute how you think I'm actually listening" and a pair of Mudd Flared Blue Jeans. She had her long black hair up in a high ponytail and a necklace with an M on it.

She, Gia, and Stephanie had all bought the necklaces for each other on Christmas. Gia was wearing hers too and it had a G on it.

She had on a light pink shirt, one side was long sleeved and the other was just a spaghetti strap, then she had on a white mini skirt. Her wavy dirty blonde hair was straightened and was hanging just below her tan collarbone.

"Hey," Stephanie said and got into the car next to Andrew.

Andrew gave her a kiss on the cheek and they drove off.

Simple Plan was playing on his stereo. The words to _My Alien_ were thumping;

"_She has two arms to hold me, and four legs to wrap around me. She's not your typical girlfriend...she's my alien."_

Stephanie loved that song. She was humming along to it.

Andrew smirked at her and placed his hand on her thigh.

Stephanie nearly shrieked out loud, Andrew barely ever did that, especially not around their best friends.  
Stephanie gave him a shy smile and then stared ahead at the road.

"..._so I, can rock on..._Thank you LA, you guys were great!" Sheryl Crow ended her show.

Stephanie, Gia, and Mickey jumped up and down screaming, they were practically front row center, they were the first row on the section just above the floor level.

Andrew covered up his ears and tried yelling through all the screaming and echo's throughout the Staples Center, "GIRLS! I THINK I LOST MY HEARING...TOO MUCH SCREAMING DOES THE EAR BAD!"

Stephanie glanced back at him and let out a laugh.

They grabbed their purses and walked out of the Staples Center.

"You guys that was amazing," Gia said, as they walked back to Andrew's car.

"Stop screaming!" Andrew said covering up his ears.

"Aww, we hurt the baby's ears." Mickey cooed jokingly.

"How could we ever do such a thing?" Stephanie asked, playing along.

"Oh ha-ha-ha, you guys won't be joking tomorrow when you're deaf now will you?" Andrew replied sarcastically.

They got into Andrew's Mustang and drove out of the parking lot.

"Well it couldn't have been noisier than the Simple Plan show we went to last year," Stephanie said.

For the past 2 years, one Saturday in April they would see if anybody they liked was playing close to wear they lived and they would go to a concert, for the past 2 years, Andrew had been able to drive them without and adult since when Stephanie and Mickey were 15, Andrew was 16 and so was Gia. But Gia was almost a year older than Andrew since she had been held back in grade 7 for 2 years while Andrew just started late. And now Andrew and Gia were 17.

"See, there's where we differ, I happen to like Simple Plan so, I had no problem whatsoever with seeing them in concert,"

"Fun sucker," Stephanie said sticking her tongue out at him.

"Keep that up and he might actually have you suck his...fun," Mickey said.

Stephanie had to think about it for a minute until she figured out what Mickey meant by "fun"

"You are so gross!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Dirty mind, dirty mind," Andrew said shaking his head jokingly.

Stephanie laughed as they headed home.

"Hello?" Stephanie answered her phone which rang as soon as she walked into her bedroom.

"Hey Steph, how was the concert?" Charles' familiar voice asked.

Mickey and Gia walked inside Stephanie's bedroom with their duffle bags and sat them on the floor. The two were having one of their weekly sleepovers.

"Hey. It was awesome, a lot of fun,"

"That's cool, well I just wanted to see how it was, it's like 2 AM so..."

"Yeah, I know, and Michelle isn't even home," Stephanie said.

"Well maybe she's staying at Lisa or Denise's houses,"

"Doubt it; she's probably at a house party or a rave,"

"God, thirteen year olds have changed extremely since we were their age, huh?"

"Totally, well hey, I gotta go, but I'll call you tomorrow, K?"

"K, see ya Steph,"

"Bye Charles," Stephanie said and clicked off her phone, tossing it on her bed.

She turned around and saw Gia and Mickey staring at her, eyes wide, surprised smiles on their faces and hands on their hips.

"Charles?" Gia asked.

Stephanie added.

"Do you like him?" Mickey asked.

"Why?" Stephanie asked, looking at the carpet.

"It just seems you might have the smallest crush. But hell, I can't blame you, he has FINE written all over him," Gia said.

Mickey nodded, "Fine is written repeatedly, all over him, not my type, I have a boyfriend, but still he's good looking"

Gia nodded, "So do you like him?"

Stephanie lifted her eyes towards her friends, "Please promise you won't tell Andrew,"

Gia and Mickey glanced at each other and smiled and then went over and hugged Stephanie, "We promise," they ended up saying in unison.

And they really meant it.

**Sorry that the chap is shorter than the others...hope ya like it!**


	6. She Will Be Loved

**Silence Is _Still_ Not Golden**-**Chapter 6**

**AN: Sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks, chapter has drinking references, and WAS going to have sexual content but it doesn't so...whatever.**

Stephanie took a shower Monday morning, she wasn't very psyched about facing Charles today, and no way could she tell him she liked him.

She got out of the shower and fifteen minutes later entered her bedroom to find something to wear to school.

She put in Britney Spears first album and danced around her room.

"_Baby, I'm so into you,_

_You've got that something,_

_What can I do?_

_Baby, you spin me around oh,_

_The earth is moving,_

_But I can't feel the ground, _

_Every time you look at me,_

_My heart is jumping it's easy to see._

_You drive me crazy!_

_I just can't sleep._

_I'm so excited,_

_I'm in too deep, whoa,_

_Crazy!_

_But it feels alright,_

_Baby thinking of you keeps me up all night._

_Tell me, you're so into me,_

_That I'm the only one you will see, tell me,_

_I'm not in the blue, oh,_

_That I'm not wasting, my feelings on you._

_Loving you, means so much more, _

_More than anything I ever felt before!_

_He drives me crazy, I just can't sleep._

_I'm so excited._

_I'm in too deep._

_Whoa,_

_Crazy! _

_But it feels alright,_

_Thinking of Charles keeps me up all night..."_

"Charles?" she heard someone scoff.

Stephanie jumped, Britney was still singing along in the background.

"What?"

"You said "thinking of Charles keeps me up all night" now, I may not be a big Britney fan but I don't think she ever mentions some dude named Charles in that song." Michelle said.

She was wearing a white tank top that had the words "Hey Baby" written on it with red writing with fishnet sleeves and a black mini skirt that had pockets with safety pins along the sides with fishnet tights and a pair of black knee high boots. Her red tips of her hair sprayed along her shoulder and she was wearing a black leather newsboy cap and a red shoulder bag slung over her shoulder along with her black messenger bag that had patches of bands on it.

"Did I seriously...?"

Michelle nodded and then smirked at her and left her bedroom and walked downstairs.

"I doubt dad's going to let you go out of the house dressed like a hooker!!" Stephanie called after her.

She heard Michelle's footsteps coming back upstairs, "He won't know, he left for work early, and I can't leave without you, you're my ride today,"

"I thought you took the bus?"

"I do, but none of my friends are taking it today except Teddy and he's going to be making out with his girlfriend, Rachel in the back anyways,"

"Okay, well it's only 7:30. Let me get dressed," Stephanie said.

Michelle nodded and walked out of her room.

Stephanie walked over to her closet and pulled open the doors.

She put on a red plaid school girl skirt that rode just above her thighs with a camisole top. She put on white thigh high nylons and a pair of red Mary Jane high heels.

"Oh my God, I feel weird," Stephanie said when she looked at herself in the mirror.

She grabbed her glitter lotion and placed it around her face, neck, and around her collar bone.

She applied cherry red lip gloss to her lips and smacked them together twice.

She sprayed on her perfume and double checked her hair which had been spiral curled.

She grabbed a red blazer that was hanging in her closet and slid it onto her shoulders and then grabbed her purse, sunglasses, and messenger bag and then walked downstairs.

It was 7:45.

Michelle saw her and she whistled, "You look so sexy, Steph," she said.

"Michelle." Stephanie warned.

"It's true," Michelle said with a smile.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and grabbed a doughnut out of the box on the kitchen counter and then grabbed a bottle of water.

"Have you had something to eat?" Stephanie asked.

"I made toast,"

Stephanie nodded and ate her doughnut, she took a swig out of her water bottle and then she and Michelle left.

Stephanie walked down the hallway heading to homeroom.  
Since she had arrived fifteen minutes earlier she had been spanked on the butt twice, whistled at three times, glared at by cheerleaders four times, and had had her friends gaping at her once.

She walked towards Charles' locker. He was standing there getting out his notebook.

"Hey Charles," Stephanie said with a smile.

"Hey Steph how are...whoa," Charles said turning around and gaping at what she was wearing.

"Yeah, I know, I overdid it for like some unknown reason," she said with a smile.

_Actually there is a reason and he's standing right in front of me. Oh god, here we go again. Let the good times roll._

Charles laughed and slammed his locker door shut as the two walked to homeroom together.

"Not necessarily," he started, "I like it, it's nice, cool, edgy, and hot and sexy,"

Stephanie blushed, "So uh, ready for that math test we have in two hours?" Stephanie asked sarcastically.

"Oh God, don't remind me," Charles groaned.

Stephanie laughed and began her day.

Stephanie's cell phone vibrated against her in her purse just as the final bell went off and every body began to head to their lockers and leave the school.

"Hello?"

"Steph, it's me, Michelle, don't need a ride, catching one with Aaron's brother, tell dad I'm studying at Lisa's house and staying for dinner and I'll be home around nine since my curfew is 8:15. See ya," Michelle said quickly and hung up.

"Sure," Stephanie replied to the dead air. She knew Michelle was going to Aaron's house and there was going to be no studying done. His brother was the type to drop and run, he was a complete free spirit. It didn't help that he was only 21 and that their parents had run out on them so he let Aaron run wild.

She sighed and twisted her locker combination.

Her locker was decked with pictures of her and all her friends, her and her sisters, her and Andrew, Comet-who was aging very, very, slowly, Nick and Alex, and pictures of her favorite celebrities cut out from magazines. She had a locker mirror, bulletin board, and marker board on the inside of her locker and a little makeup holder that held some of her lip glosses and hand lotions.

She put her history notebook into her messenger bag and shut her locker.

She saw Charles leaning against the locker next to her.

"Hey,"

"Hey, do you wanna study at my place tonight?" Charles asked.

"Sure..." Stephanie said.

"Okay, well can we use your car? My dad, step-mom, and the kids are out of town for the rest of the week to go to some benefit in San Diego so they just dropped me off on their way out of the city,"

"Sure," Stephanie said and the two walked out of the main doors of the school.

Stephanie and Charles walked into Charles' huge house.

Stephanie pulled off her messenger bag and purse and hung them up on the coat rack. She took off her high heeled Mary Jane's.

Charles dropped his backpack on the floor and walked into the dining room. Stephanie followed.

Charles walked over to the wet bar and stepped behind the bar counter and bent down.

"What are you doing?" Stephanie asked, walking over to him.

"What'll it be? Sherri, vodka, martini, margarita, tequila?"

"Uh, I don't drink," Stephanie said.

"Martini it is," he said and pulled out a bottle of gin and vermouth.

He turned around to a cabinet and pulled out silver shaker. He reached into the mini refrigerator and pulled out an ice tray and poured it into the shaker. He poured in the gin and vermouth and shook it up.

"I don't drink, I'm sixteen," Stephanie objected.

Charles pulled out two martini glasses from the bar and poured the drinks inside.

He reached back into the fridge and pulled out a jar of olives and then reached onto the counter and pulled out two toothpicks.

He placed two olives on each and placed them in the glasses.

He walked over to Stephanie who was now sitting at one of the stools at the counter.

"Here," he said and slid it to her.

"Okay, my dad drinks this, my mom drinks this, my uncle drinks this as well as my aunt, sister, her boyfriend, best friend and my dad's best friend but I don't,"

"Me neither, I'm only seventeen but I felt bored. I've seen my dad make them before, last night actually, so I thought I'd give it a try," he said and took a sip. His face showed a sour expression.

Stephanie took a drink out of hers and then coughed. "What is in this?"

"Gin and Vermouth, didn't you just see me make it?"

Stephanie nodded and took another sip.

"Yeah, I see you really hate it," Charles said sarcastically taking another sip out of his.

Stephanie took off one of the olives and placed it in her mouth. The sensation filled her mouth like a fiesta.

She moaned excitedly.

"What was that all about?" Charles asked with a laugh.

"This is so good!" She said ecstatically.

Charles smiled, "Want more?"

"Not of the same thing, how about rum?" Stephanie asked taking the last sip out of her glass and putting the other olive in her mouth.

"Okay, whatever you say," Charles said and walked back to the bar and pulled out two regular glasses and poured some rum into each glass, he reached into the fridge and pulled out a can of Coke and poured it inside the glass too and then placed one cherry in each glass.

He slid the glass over to Stephanie and let her take a sip out of it.

She smiled after she did and continued to down the drink.

_She's gonna get drunk, I better stop her...nah. Oh god, I'm such a jerk._ Charles thought to himself.

**HALF AN HOUR LATER**

Stephanie took her last sip out of her third glass of rum with Coke and she sat up from the stool and walked off.

Her legs were wobbling just barely, so she wasn't as drunk as Charles thought.

_Thank God._

"Do you guys have a pool table?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, in the basement,"

"Awesome, lets go play, I'm gonna see if I can kick your a-"

"Okay, good luck to ya, I'm king at pool," Charles said as he led her to the basement.

They each chalked up their sticks and Charles racked up the balls.

"I'll break," Stephanie said getting in position.

She got ready to hit the stick when Charles spoke up.

"We're gonna play for something," He suggested.

"What?"

"If you score, I have to do something for you, vice versa with me,"

Stephanie nodded and hit the pool stick. She hit a solid ball into the hole.

"Okay, put on some music," Stephanie said.

"What? That's what you want me to do for you?"

Stephanie nodded.

"Whatever you say, princess," Charles replied to her sarcastically and walked over to his sound system. He pulled out a CD he had burned full of different bands and songs and placed it inside the player.

Matchbox 20 filled the room.

"My turn again," Stephanie said and hit the ball, but missed.

"My turn," Charles said and hit the ball, one striped ball landed in the hole.

"I dare you to do a fast dance in slow motion to this song," Charles said.

"Bright Light's is playing, it's a slow song. I'll embarrass myself,"

Charles grinned, "I know."

Stephanie rolled her eyes but walked over to a corner and danced around for 2 minutes doing club dance moves slowly.

Charles had to admit it to himself, she was good, she was hot, and she was sexy. And she was definitely exciting him. He could begin to feel his blood rush.

"Okay, uh, times up, song is over,"

"K," Stephanie said and quit dancing and walked back to the pool table.

_Thank you._

"My turn again," Charles said and purposely missed so he wouldn't make her do something crazy that would excite him.

Stephanie hit her white ball which hit the green striped ball and landed in a hole.

"Okay, I want you to, take your shirt off," Stephanie said, with a gleam of excitement in her blue eyes.

"What? Are you drunk?"

Stephanie opened up her mouth to speak but Charles cut her off.

"Don't answer that," he said and pulled off his white tee shirt.

Stephanie felt her heart beat race as she looked at his six-pack.

"You c-can go," Stephanie stammered.

Charles hit the white ball but it landed in the hole.

"What happens if there's a scratch?" Stephanie asked.

"You get to ask me to do something," Charles said.

Stephanie stared at him for a minute.

She knew exactly what she wanted him to do.

She also knew exactly how Andrew would feel if he found out.

But she was bordering drunk, so technically she couldn't get fully blamed.

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes.

"I want you to kiss me," She said.

He walked over to her slowly and placed his mouth onto hers.

It began slowly and softly, Charles could feel Stephanie's lips trembling.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled her closer to him until they were both pressed against the pool table.

Stephanie felt Charles' tongue flicking against her closed lips, she opened them up and let his tongue slip inside, and she did the same with hers.

Charles pressed her back so she was leaning against the pool table. She was practically lying on the table.

_This is wrong...this is wrong. _Stephanie repeated.

Stephanie thought about it for a minute and then pushed Charles off of her.

"I'm sorry," they both ended up saying in unison.

"Charles, I really like you, really, really, like you. But I have a boyfriend, and I can't do this to him, I'm sorry," Stephanie said.

Charles nodded, "It was stupid of me to agree to kiss you,"

"I better get home, its getting late," Stephanie said reading the clock which read 4:30. Her curfew for dinner was 6:45.

Charles nodded.

Stephanie grabbed her blazer and slid it onto her shoulders and then ran upstairs and put on her shoes and slipped her messenger bag and purse over her shoulder.

"Bye," She heard Charles call from downstairs.

Stephanie opened up the front door.

She practically ran to her car.

She turned the ignition, turned on her music which was now Maroon 5 and drove off.

_I don't mind spending every day,_

_Out on your corner in the pouring rain, _

_Look for the girl with the broken smile._

_Ask her if she wants to stay awhile._

_And she will be loved,_

_And she will be loved..._

**Well, that was fun to write. Ha-ha. No really it was fun. Anyways hope you liked, see ya next chapter! Bring on the reviews! Please, no flames.**


	7. Smooth Criminal

**AN: Hey all, so sorry I haven't updated in almost a month!**

**LenniluvsBrian: Yeah, I obviously didn't think about the small drunk detail, my bad!**

**Here's Chapter 7, R&R and lotsa love!**

- - - - - -

**Silence Is _Still_ Not Golden-Chapter 7**

**- - - - -**

She entered her house at 4:59.

"I'm home," Stephanie said walking into the house.

"Hey Steph," Vicky said.

Stephanie waved, "Hey, what are you doing home early?"

"It's 5 o'clock, what are you doing home early?" Vicky asked.

Stephanie blushed deep red.

"Okay, none of my business, but Andrew called about thirty minutes ago and wanted to see if you wanted to go out for pizza with him..."

Stephanie gulped, "I have a lot of homework so..." Stephanie lied.

Vicky nodded, "Have you seen your sister?"

"Oh, she's uh," Stephanie stammered, _Oh God, what did she want me to say? Oh yeah, I remember. _"She's staying for dinner with Lisa and then they are going to watch a movie and she'll be home around 9," _Whew._

Vicky nodded.

Stephanie gave her a quick wave and ran upstairs.

- - - - -

At 9:15, Stephanie heard the front door opening and slamming and she heard Michelle's stomping upstairs.

Stephanie's door flew open and Michelle ran in, slamming it behind her.

"You okay?"

"I hate Aaron. All he wanted to do was have sex. I hate him."

"Oh, Michelle," Stephanie said pulling her sister into a hug as Michelle sobbed into her shoulder.

- - - - -

Stephanie woke up the next morning at 6 AM.

Michelle had left her room at 10:30 and went to her own room and then Stephanie couldn't get to sleep until 12:45.

"Thank God, I don't have a hangover," she said and stumbled into the shower, she needed a really long hot shower.

One hour later she got back into her room and picked out something to wear.

She chose a pink corduroy skirt that rode to her thighs with a white tank top and a matching pink corduroy jacket.

She put on a pair of white sneakers and did her hair and makeup.

Her hair was pulled into a half ponytail and then sprayed it with glitter hair spray.

She heard a knock on her door. She looked over and saw Michelle.

She had on a pair of plain flair blue jeans with holes in the knees. She was wearing a black tee shirt that said "Don't tick me off, I'm running out of hiding places for the bodies" in white lettering and a white jacket and a pair of white sneakers, her hair was pulled into a clip so that her red tips streamed across the top of her head and she had on her spiked necklace to cover up her two hickeys.

Her face looked pale and she had on black eyeliner and pink lip gloss.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"What happened to the fishnets and mini skirts?" Stephanie asked.

Michelle glared at her dumbly.

"Okay, stupid question," she said and grabbed her messenger bag and purse from where they were leaning against her closet door and followed Michelle downstairs.

They walked outside so Michelle could catch her bus, Stephanie grabbed her car keys, and she wanted to leave early so she could stop by Gia's apartment to talk to her. It was only 7:30 in the morning.

Michelle saw her bus pull up and she gulped, she saw Aaron sitting by the window.

"Just go," Stephanie urged.

Michelle gulped.

Michelle waved goodbye to her sister and then ran to the bus and up the steps, since it was early the bus still had a lot of stops to make throughout the school district.

Stephanie saw Michelle slide into the seat with Aaron, even though almost all the seats were empty.

They talked for a minute and then Michelle and Aaron's lips were locked together.

The bus door shut and it drove off.

Stephanie smiled and got into her car and drove towards Gia's.

- - - - -

"You guys kissed!?" Gia exclaimed.

Stephanie nodded.

"Oh my God," Gia said with a very small surprised smile on her face.

"I know...horrible right?" Stephanie asked.

The two were sitting on the couch in Gia's living room at her apartment.

Gia's mom got married to a professor at Stanford University shortly after Danny did and now they lived in a really nice penthouse apartment close to the beach.

"No..." Gia said.

"What? G, you do realize I cheated on Andrew last night don't you?"

"Yep, no big deal,"

"Easy for you to say, you've been cheating on your boyfriends since well...ever." Stephanie replied shortly.

Gia grinned, "I know."

Stephanie shook her head.

"Look, Steph. Don't feel bad okay, we've all cheated on boyfriends before, don't worry." Gia said.

"I cheated on Andrew!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Okay, do you _want_ the whole apartment complex to hear you?"

"Sorry. I just feel awful. Did I mention I was nearly drunk last night?"

"See so you have nothing to worry about...say you were drunk,"

"That's what I thought I would say too. But I can't. See, I wasn't very drunk, and I came onto Charles,"

"Did he let you?"

Stephanie nodded, "But it doesn't matter. I wanted it so bad and I got it. And I don't regret it,"

Gia smiled, "So nothing to worry about, right?"

"Wrong."

"Why?"

"I made a promise to Andrew that I wouldn't lie to him about anything. And I can't actually say that I cheated on him... I'd have to lie to him, and I can't it would break our promise,"

"Steph, you already broke a promise to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I remember last year on your 1 year anniversary you two both promised each other that you would always be together, never cheat, etcetera, etcetera,"

"Oh. I shouldn't have promised that," Stephanie said.

"Don't blame yourself Steph, now look I gotta go change and then we have to get to school," Gia said and walked into her room.

She returned ten minutes later, she was wearing a white belly tee shirt with the Wonder Bread logo on it, since it was a belly shirt her belly button ring was visible. And then she was wearing a blue jean fringed mini skirt and a pair of K-Swiss sneakers with red stripes and red laces and her hair was pulled into a high ponytail.

She slung her red messenger bag over her shoulder along with her black shoulder bag purse and then grabbed her sunglasses.

She picked up a cigarette from her kitchen table and lit it up with a lighter and then walked out of the house, Stephanie following.

"We're taking my car today, after school, I'll give you a ride back here and you can get your car," Gia said walking to her blue Miata convertible.

Stephanie opened up the passenger side as Gia turned her key in the ignition.

She put the top down and turned on the stereo as they pulled out of the parking lot.

_Smooth Criminal_ by Alien Ant Farm was playing.

Next to Michelle and her friends, Gia was the next person she knew who loved alternative music.

Gia took a puff out of her cigarette.

Even though Stephanie didn't smoke, she didn't have as big of a problem about Gia smoking as she used to since she sometimes thought Michelle did, but she was pretty sure she didn't.

Gia pulled into the school's parking lot and got out. Stephanie followed her.

Gia dropped her cigarette on the ground and stomped it out and then kicked it under Harry Hung's Hummer which was parked right next to Gia's car.

The two walked into the school, Gia grabbed her white I Pod out of her purse and placed the ear buds in her ear's and pressed the play button and then put the player back in her purse so she could still listen to her headphones.

Stephanie heard Gia humming along to _Still Waiting_ by Sum 41.

The two continued to walk down the hallway.

Stephanie saw Andrew talking to Charles.

She gulped and then turned around and ran out of the school.

"Steph!" Gia called after her.

Mickey saw her too and ran.

The two chased her all the way into the parking lot.

Stephanie leaned against Gia's car.

"What the hell was that?!" Gia asked.

"I just can't face them today."

"And...?" Mickey asked.

"Let's ditch," Stephanie said.

"She broke out of the good girl shell!" Gia exclaimed and she and Mickey did high fives.

Stephanie rolled her eyes as the three got into Gia's car and drove off.

- - - - -

Once again, sorry for not updating in a while, see you next chapter!

Lotsa love, degrassichick92


End file.
